Police raided dozens of homes in Moldova and Ukraine, officials said, as part of a cross-border investigation into hundreds of people linked to Russian mercenary groups and who allegedly committed war crimes in Ukraine.
The European police agency Europol said in a statement on October 31 that authorities had identified more than 650 people from nine countries implicated in rape and summary executions of civilians and prisoners-of-war. The people served as part of Wagner Group and Redut, the agency said, two interlinked Russian military entities.
The agency said police in Moldova and Ukraine raided 70 houses on October 29, seizing guns, ammunition, computers and electronic equipment linked to the now-defunct Wagner Group, whose soldiers have played a shadowy role fighting not only in Ukraine, but also Syria, Libya, and a host of African countries.
The raids also netted videos and photographs, as well as uniforms and badges tied to Wagner, Europol said. Some of the evidence pointed to mercenary soldiers serving in the Democratic of Congo, one of several African countries where Wagner soldiers are known to have a presence.
Both Moldovan and Ukrainian prosecutors confirmed the raids in separate press statements.
"Ukrainian police officers are finding Russian war criminals in different countries around the world and are doing everything possible to ensure that each of them receives a fair punishment," the National Police of Ukraine said in a statement.
It was unclear exactly how many of the 654 people that Europol said had been implicated in alleged war crimes have been arrested or their overall whereabouts.
Aside from Ukrainians and Moldovans, citizens of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Bosnia Herzegovina, have also been identified, Europol said.
Ukrainian authorities have set up a dedicated prosecutors’ unit charged with collecting evidence of war crimes committed during the more-than 45-month-old all-out Russian invasion. The effort has drawn investigators and support from other countries as well.
After the death of its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in a mysterious plane crash, Wagner Group was largely broken up, with various military units absorbed by the Defense Ministry or incorporated into other paramilitary organizations.
Redut, the other entity identified in the raids is a shadowy recruitment network run by the Russian military’s intelligence agency known as the GRU. Some of Wagner’s units are believed to have been absorbed by Redut.
